Speed loaders for revolvers and the like are well known in the art, as can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,313,275, 4,202,124 and 3,722,125. The cartridges to be loaded are dropped one at a time into cylindrical bores in the housing of the speed loader. A locking mechanism is engaged to maintain the cartridges within the housing of the speed loader. The speed loader may then be carried on the person until needed. When a new round of cartridges is to be loaded n the gun, the user must align the cartridges within the speed loader with the cylinder of the gun and release the locking mechanism to insert the cartridges into the gun.
The disadvantage with this type of speed loader is that it is difficult to properly align the cartridges of the gun under adverse lighting conditions. Valuable time may be lost when hunting or during competition while fumbling with the loader in an attempt to align it properly in the dark, resulting in missed shots.
The night loader of the present invention overcomes the above disadvantage. The night loader includes a light source located on the bottom face of the cartridge housing and an energizing circuit for selectively activating and deactivating the light source. When switched on, the light source will illuminate the cylinder of the gun, thus facilitating easy alignment of the cartridges with the cylinder of the gun, even under adverse lighting conditions.